Cat 5e Cable (fits present needs, cheapest)

Cat 6 Cable

Cat 6a Cable (most expensive)

I'm moving in a new home, and one of my requirements is to have networking cable installed for my home network. The plan is to have a network rack in the garage, then initially put in a modem/gigabit switch/FreeNAS server. However, this means that I'm having wiring put in. And, this is a job that only gets done once.

The cost-conscious choice is Cat 5e cable. That cable supports Gigabit transfer speeds which should be more than adequate for all of the present applications. A 1000 foot box of that cable can run between $50-$100.

Then, there is Cat 6. That would future-proof me as it was have 10 Gigabit transfer speeds when the appropriate equipment is available. That would be years down the road. A 1000 foot box would run $60-$120. However, 10 gigabit speeds would be distance limited.

You've answered your own question. As for the cost, are you seriously considering the insignificant cost differential you posted in the material as a factor when amortizing the cost over the life of the house? Wow! Given the conversation thus far I feel the need to point out the real difference in pricing is not in the cable but rather the termination of said cable. It still doesn't change the answer though.

You should be able to pull new cables whenever you need it. Plan and design canals in the walls so you could later pull new cables and use whatever fits you need in the foreseeable future (cat5e).
Otherwise I'd go for 10gbit variants cables. 10GBit is even now getting momentum while not very much when talking about switches but still. 1 GBit is already too slow for todays requirements even IF using one modern HD drive.
It all depends on your needs. But if really it would be done once and forever, I'd go for 10GBit and at least cat6. There are emerging standards fo 2.5/5GBit which I don't know when and if after all. But they can use cat5e with limited lengths but still... cat5e not very futureproof.
For lengths up to about 50 meters you can use cat6 for 10Gbit. It's up to you and your home layout. I think 1Gbit is (will be shortly) fast being replaced by faster connections. Plan and think twice .

Cat6/6a can be difficult to install properly. You have to be more careful in regards to things like bend radius and maintaining twists up to the termination points. Cat5e/1 Gb is much more forgiving of errors. If you're not experienced, you may may want to consider a professional installer, someone who knows how to use a Fluke or similar tester and knows not to staple cables to the rafters (i.e., not your typical electrician who's only done phone lines).

Run conduit to drops wherever possible. Include drawstrings to make is simpler to pull additional cable at some future date.

Consider including coax (RG-6 quad-shielded) along with the twisted-pair cables to locations where a TV might exist. Better than having the cable/satellite installer stable a bunch of lines to the outside of the house and drill holes in the walls.

IMO, to get anything less than the absolute top rated stuff when doing a home install where you will love for a decade+ is just a bad idea. It is way harder to rip stuff out for replacement down the line. And really when talking an extra $1000 for the bulk cable install when talking home prices if that thousand is the make it or break it then you shouldnt be looking at houses yet anyway. Like you said, you want this to be a one time thing. Anything less than 6a is a stupid idea, and it would be better to have even higher capability to at least some areas.

Motherboards are starting to come with 10 gigabit built in. Intel has CPUs with multiple 10gb NICs in the die itself. Switch chips are getting cheaper and cheaper. You may not realize it but 10gb is actually right around the corner now. It has to be with 802.11ax also coming which needs multi-gig ports on the access points just to not be bandwidth capped by the wire.

And as other said, if possible install conduit. That will make running fiber lines at some point much easier.

Just bite the bullet and get cat8 now and you wont have to worry about it for 20 years. Or at least do cat6a to basic locations and cat8 to areas where you want top grade speed capability.

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Yeah, that would be a bad idea. On top of the extraordinary costs for no performance gain, it's not even intended for general cabling in the same way Cat5e/6/6a are. It's intended for much faster (25/40 Gb) connections typically seen in a datacenter. But those installs are already using fiber and DAC cables, which require far less power and have better latency than copper (hell, 10 Gb copper barely became a thing for those reasons). It seems to me that there's little chance of Cat8 (or Cat7) going anywhere outside of maybe some expensive edge-case installs. And it should be obvious that it'll be a looong time before we see anything faster than 10 Gb for end-user systems. It's taken about 15+ years for desktop/workstations to move from 1 Gb to 10 Gb ethernet, and there's far less impetus for 10 Gb now than there was for 1 Gb.

Also, as with most anything else in this field, "future-proofing" network cabling is a fool's errand.

Almost 20 years ago I had a house built, when I did I had put in Cat 5 cable everywhere. Now we are at 20 years later, and I am having to think about swapping out the Cat-5 with Cat-6A so that I could keep up with technology. If you put in cat-5e, you will have to think about replacing it much earlier than if you put in 6a instead.

Yeah, that would be a bad idea. On top of the extraordinary costs for no performance gain,

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You are really so concerned with a cost difference of $560 when buying a house and doing necessary moving in upgrades for the future? Its an absolute pittance when talking about house costs. It also ensures you will not have to replace the wiring, where Cat6a is still a maybe in needing to replace it, and regular cat6 and lower is a sure thing on needing to replace it at some point during ownership. Replacement costs to open walls up is way above $560 difference of having just put it in initially. Conduit cost for a potential future upgrade is also more than the $560 cost difference if that route is taken instead.

Id also like to suggest to the OP:
Run double lines into the living room, kid play area/loft/rec room, as well as two lines into a room you plan on doing media stuff in if you have a separate room other than the living room, and finally a second line to wherever you plan on setting up your computer. That ensures you have backups in case one breaks for any reason over the years, and provides a second hard line for something like a game console to run on specifically, or the TV directly for streaming stability. With a second line in these locations you potentially keep yourself from needing to place switches all around your house for the extra stuff. Making your wife happier and giving you backups at the same time.

Also plan specifically where to run a line or two for wifi access points for whole home coverage. Doing so now will let you have optimal coverage and minimal eye sores.

You are really so concerned with a cost difference of $560 when buying a house and doing necessary moving in upgrades for the future? Its an absolute pittance when talking about house costs.

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Cost, in and of itself, is not the concern. It's the cost in relation to any possible gains, which are essentially zero. If there were any tangible benefit for the cost this would be a different conversation.

Where are you getting such an exact number? Is that just for cabling? What about patch panels, keystone jacks, etc.? Increased contractor costs for having to deal with a more finicky install and testing for a tech that is aimed at datacenters and isn't intended to be installed in walls in the first place?

It also ensures you will not have to replace the wiring, where Cat6a is still a maybe in needing to replace it, and regular cat6 and lower is a sure thing on needing to replace it at some point during ownership.

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No, it doesn't ensure anything. There's no telling what's coming in the future or what its requirements will be. My guess, given the physical layers currently commonly used by 10 Gb+ ethernet (i.e., fiber) and the drawbacks and slow uptake of 10 Gb over twisted-pair copper, is that whatever comes next will not specify any new standard for twisted-pair copper.

While designed for possible 25/40 Gb ethernet implementations, Cat8 is not actually part of any ethernet or other networking specification. AFAIK no such ethernet hardware actually utilizes it or anything else besides fiber/DACs. There's no guarantee that it'll ever be used for anything for a variety of reasons, some of which I pointed out in my prior post. It's highly likely that you'd be installing something that will provide no benefit with a lifetime no longer than what Cat6a would provide.

Using the uptake time of 10 Gb from 1 Gb as a rough guide, an the fact that 10 Gb is only now just starting to take off for end-user systems, I believe it's a pretty safe bet that a Cat6a install today would be good for at the very least ten years, with fifteen or even twenty easily being conceivable (i.e., whatever new tech that comes out won't immediately supplant the existing).

Replacement costs to open walls up is way above $560 difference of having just put it in initially. Conduit cost for a potential future upgrade is also more than the $560 cost difference if that route is taken instead.

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Yes, it's doesn't make much sense to tear out walls just to install conduit. There are usually cheaper and cleaner ways to fish cabling through an existing structure. But the OP indicated this is for a new house, presumably still being built, and that's why I and others in this thread have been suggesting conduit.

Conduit itself is cheap. It's just thin pvc or similar tubing. If the drywall isn't yet up, install is also so stupid easy that it'd easily be done successfully by whatever apprentice or two is on-site after maybe a half-hour of instruction.

Conduit also gives you options in the future. On top of making future replacement simpler, it allows for the later addition of whatever else might be required later (e.g., more twisted-pair, fiber, coax). It's also not a bad idea to run empty conduit in places that currently don't have a need for any wiring but could later.

But the OP indicated this is for a new house, presumably still being built, and that's why I and others in this thread have been suggesting conduit.

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Whoops.... I misstated. It's "new to me", but is at least 10 years old. Unfortunately, with a brand new home, I would be commuting at least 30 minutes each way to work, and my desire to live close to work means older home.

Run double lines into the living room, kid play area/loft/rec room, as well as two lines into a room you plan on doing media stuff in if you have a separate room other than the living room, and finally a second line to wherever you plan on setting up your computer. That ensures you have backups in case one breaks for any reason over the years, and provides a second hard line for something like a game console to run on specifically, or the TV directly for streaming stability. With a second line in these locations you potentially keep yourself from needing to place switches all around your house for the extra stuff.

It might not be that bad running conduit or smurf tube if it's a single story house, you really could do most of the work from the attic. If it's two story then who doesn't like increased difficulty. You like [H]ard right?

Also you don't really need an adapter for RJ11 to RJ45. Last place I worked we used RJ45 jacks for everything, both POTS and LAN. The R11 plugs fit fine you just aren't using the outer pins.

In a serious vein, yeah, the cost of the wire is literally immaterial. If you can work with Cat6a, then do it. (Assuming this is a DIY.) If your skills aren't up to par, then Cat6 is easy enough. Maybe your radius is too tight or the twists end too soon: in your house, do you really think you'll notice the difference on that run between 8.7Gbs and 10Gbs?

Whatever you do, the best advice is to plan on your work becoming obsolete. Conduit is your friend.

at first i was on a no brainer mode for cat5e. then i looked at the costs ( in my country cat6 cost 3x more than cat5e) and changed my vote to cat6. odds are you will not benefit much from choosing cat6 because video streaming quality is increasing very slowly, if at all. sample for 4k videos from 2013 are still much better than anything commercial today, including 4k blu rays.

Today even your average HDD can do much more than 110MB/s (1Gbps). Streaming point-to-point etc wouldn't need more than 1Gbps anytime soon but throw in several use-points in your home that could potentially use high-bandwidth applications and soon you'll feel at least the "backbone" in your home should've been implemented with more than 1G.
Moving backups/files/movies etc. between workstations/desktops to/from NAS/server etc. with 180-200MB/s (in my case a big fast HDD, not even in RAID) and at the same time a HD IPTV going on, is a different story .

Today even your average HDD can do much more than 110MB/s (1Gbps). Streaming point-to-point etc wouldn't need more than 1Gbps anytime soon but throw in several use-points in your home that could potentially use high-bandwidth applications and soon you'll feel at least the "backbone" in your home should've been implemented with more than 1G.
Moving backups/files/movies etc. between workstations/desktops to/from NAS/server etc. with 180-200MB/s (in my case a big fast HDD, not even in RAID) and at the same time a HD IPTV going on, is a different story .

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This is why I'm very close to leaning towards 6a instead of 6. It is much easier to swap out a switch in five years than it is to swap out the wiring. Technology tends to improve over time and decrease in price.

This is why I'm very close to leaning towards 6a instead of 6. It is much easier to swap out a switch in five years than it is to swap out the wiring. Technology tends to improve over time and decrease in price.

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So there's a lot of debate on what cable to put in and there's solid arguments from both sides. Instead of taking a side, I'm going to present a factual real-life example.

In the early 1990s, we were designing the specs for the last house we'd ever build. It would be my parents one and only abode and last home for life.

In this home, there was A LOT of cabling spec'd. I knew we'd want Ethernet literally everywhere as well as cable, music, a pbx system (landline phones were still the major form of communcation), and wifi didn't exist like it does today nor gigabit.

So the spec was 2 Ethernet jacks in every room, 8 in the 'computer room', 2 quad shielded rg6 coax in each room, and one cat3+ rated 4-pair for telephone.

For Ethernet wire, the cat5 spec didn't even exist at the time, but I knew we'd never want to get in these walls again, even though we had enough space to do so. The solution? Mohawk MegaLan 400Mhz rated wire. This was literally the highest rated wire you could get, the second highest being about 250Mhz. It cost 2x per spool compared to second place. Extra cost--maybe $500?

Installation was a nightmare because there weren't contractors that installed Ethernet back then. You had yahoos that knew phone wire termination and the termination sequence for Ethernet. Still, all jacks passed 100Mbits. They missed some jacks (like the study where I'm posting this from), so the coax came in handy for moca and we use powerline as well for missing or better placement spots like the projector cabinet in the entertainment room.

Fast forward a few years. Gigabit is here. I swap out our 100Mbit switch for a gigabit once we could afford one and all but a handful of ports passed iperf tests for full-duplex gigabit. Those that didn't still do full-duplex 100Mbit. And if you look at the 3" of untwisted wire, on some of those ports you'd be surprised that it even does that. I bet I can get all ports to run full-duplex gigabit by fixing the terminations, but it's not a priority at this time since 48 ports is enough.

Wifi came, so we added a few access points where we needed them for wifi toys. Powerline and moca came so we were able to add low latency connections to the study (where I'm posting this from).

So here we are almost 30 years later, and the next biggest test will be how this wire runs 2.5/5g when that's available. That will probably give it another 10 years of life if it can, and if you think in terms of being obsolete, probably another 20 years. That's 50 years for the wiring, which in most cases will outlive the house. But I don't think we would have made it to reliable gigabit if we go the same 100Mhz rated wire everyone was using at the time. The slight price increase in wire is well, well worth it.

Cat6a is supposed to be a trickier animal to terminate due to the twists, but there are some unique tools and keystones that make the job easy even for a novice. Just another small expense. And if you don't want to terminate it for 10g today, just use the normal 5e ends until you need 6a, then you just re-terminate and swap out the switch for 10g over copper. And wiring for 10g should be good enough for when everyone is watching 16k videos in uberstupid uxuhdr (ultra extreme uber high dynamic range). And even if it's slightly not up to spec, 1g will be easy for it.

If you plan to outsource the cabling, DO NOT let your electrical contractor or any other 'residential' contractor do the wiring and termination as you will end up having to redo a lot of it. Hire a company who does business structured wiring. They may balk and say you'll find it too expensive, and you will if you compare it to what your general contractor or other residential contractors will quote you, but with a structured wiring company, it would be an easy job, done right, and no problems at all--and that's what you want.

I thought about this a lot too. I opted for cat5e, why? Because I have 1000ft left from when I worked with Comcast and I wasn't going to spend 120+ on cat 6a. I agree with others have said though. I haven't been using conduit except outside. I just tacked it up as neat as I can in the basement.

I've worked with both cat5e and cat6, first one it was easier to crimp unlike the latter, it was pita since cable is stiffer (mostly installing the rj45 jack since i had the electrician help me rout the cables through the house). so ymmv

So there's a lot of debate on what cable to put in and there's solid arguments from both sides. Instead of taking a side, I'm going to present a factual real-life example.

In the early 1990s, we were designing the specs for the last house we'd ever build. It would be my parents one and only abode and last home for life.

In this home, there was A LOT of cabling spec'd. I knew we'd want Ethernet literally everywhere as well as cable, music, a pbx system (landline phones were still the major form of communcation), and wifi didn't exist like it does today nor gigabit.

So the spec was 2 Ethernet jacks in every room, 8 in the 'computer room', 2 quad shielded rg6 coax in each room, and one cat3+ rated 4-pair for telephone.

For Ethernet wire, the cat5 spec didn't even exist at the time, but I knew we'd never want to get in these walls again, even though we had enough space to do so. The solution? Mohawk MegaLan 400Mhz rated wire. This was literally the highest rated wire you could get, the second highest being about 250Mhz. It cost 2x per spool compared to second place. Extra cost--maybe $500?

Installation was a nightmare because there weren't contractors that installed Ethernet back then. You had yahoos that knew phone wire termination and the termination sequence for Ethernet. Still, all jacks passed 100Mbits. They missed some jacks (like the study where I'm posting this from), so the coax came in handy for moca and we use powerline as well for missing or better placement spots like the projector cabinet in the entertainment room.

Fast forward a few years. Gigabit is here. I swap out our 100Mbit switch for a gigabit once we could afford one and all but a handful of ports passed iperf tests for full-duplex gigabit. Those that didn't still do full-duplex 100Mbit. And if you look at the 3" of untwisted wire, on some of those ports you'd be surprised that it even does that. I bet I can get all ports to run full-duplex gigabit by fixing the terminations, but it's not a priority at this time since 48 ports is enough.

Wifi came, so we added a few access points where we needed them for wifi toys. Powerline and moca came so we were able to add low latency connections to the study (where I'm posting this from).

So here we are almost 30 years later, and the next biggest test will be how this wire runs 2.5/5g when that's available. That will probably give it another 10 years of life if it can, and if you think in terms of being obsolete, probably another 20 years. That's 50 years for the wiring, which in most cases will outlive the house. But I don't think we would have made it to reliable gigabit if we go the same 100Mhz rated wire everyone was using at the time. The slight price increase in wire is well, well worth it.

Cat6a is supposed to be a trickier animal to terminate due to the twists, but there are some unique tools and keystones that make the job easy even for a novice. Just another small expense. And if you don't want to terminate it for 10g today, just use the normal 5e ends until you need 6a, then you just re-terminate and swap out the switch for 10g over copper. And wiring for 10g should be good enough for when everyone is watching 16k videos in uberstupid uxuhdr (ultra extreme uber high dynamic range). And even if it's slightly not up to spec, 1g will be easy for it.

If you plan to outsource the cabling, DO NOT let your electrical contractor or any other 'residential' contractor do the wiring and termination as you will end up having to redo a lot of it. Hire a company who does business structured wiring. They may balk and say you'll find it too expensive, and you will if you compare it to what your general contractor or other residential contractors will quote you, but with a structured wiring company, it would be an easy job, done right, and no problems at all--and that's what you want.

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This assumes demand will continue to scale in accordance with past performance, but that's not a guarantee. It also ignores wifi and it's scalability going forward.

Domestic networks and applications have matured; a new app demanding radically more amounts of bandwidth is unlikely. What do we have to look forward to? 4k video? 25mbs? Say you have 4 devices streaming at once, your standard gig network will be more than capable of handling it. More modern wifi deployments as well. 8k video is coming, but how many of us will really be using that? How many of us use 4k video today?

In OP's situation, it's not a new home build, but a retrofit. I wouldn't stress too much about it. cat5e, properly termed, will likely hold OP for decades to come.

This assumes demand will continue to scale in accordance with past performance, but that's not a guarantee. It also ignores wifi and it's scalability going forward.

Domestic networks and applications have matured; a new app demanding radically more amounts of bandwidth is unlikely. What do we have to look forward to? 4k video? 25mbs? Say you have 4 devices streaming at once, your standard gig network will be more than capable of handling it. More modern wifi deployments as well. 8k video is coming, but how many of us will really be using that? How many of us use 4k video today?

In OP's situation, it's not a new home build, but a retrofit. I wouldn't stress too much about it. cat5e, properly termed, will likely hold OP for decades to come.

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Things continue to scale and will continue to. As new technologies are developed, uses are found if they aren't already there when a technology is developed. 2.5/5g Ethernet is right around the corner and cat6 will be more suited for that than 5e. Wifi will never be making more of a 'convenience' impact to wired Ethernet until some reliable speeds approaching gigabit become the norm. And by the time that happens, wired technologies will have moved on from 1g and so will have applications.

If you're thinking nothing new is coming in the pipeline, then why do we need bigger and faster drives, more memory, faster processors? All this stuff keep moving and the network will also do the same. In the enterprise 10g is normal and 100g is the new 10g--and this was once the only domain for 1g. The application may not be here right now in the home, but make no mistake--it is coming. The bandwidth opens new doors to things you couldn't even think of trying before.

A retrofit even makes more sense to use the best cable you can. It will be 2-3x more of a pain to run the wires so once you run them, you want to be done for good. Hell, I'd even drop some quad coax and preterminated fibre if I was doing it. The additional material costs are practically neligeable over the long run, and labor costs are the same.

Things continue to scale and will continue to. As new technologies are developed, uses are found if they aren't already there when a technology is developed. 2.5/5g Ethernet is right around the corner and cat6 will be more suited for that than 5e. Wifi will never be making more of a 'convenience' impact to wired Ethernet until some reliable speeds approaching gigabit become the norm. And by the time that happens, wired technologies will have moved on from 1g and so will have applications.

If you're thinking nothing new is coming in the pipeline, then why do we need bigger and faster drives, more memory, faster processors? All this stuff keep moving and the network will also do the same. In the enterprise 10g is normal and 100g is the new 10g--and this was once the only domain for 1g. The application may not be here right now in the home, but make no mistake--it is coming. The bandwidth opens new doors to things you couldn't even think of trying before.

A retrofit even makes more sense to use the best cable you can. It will be 2-3x more of a pain to run the wires so once you run them, you want to be done for good. Hell, I'd even drop some quad coax and preterminated fibre if I was doing it. The additional material costs are practically neligeable over the long run, and labor costs are the same.

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Processor speeds have somewhat plateaued. Until last year I was still rocking a core2duo, and rather happily at that.

I suspect the market has matured; we won't see the same level of growth in the next 20 years that we saw between 2000-2010. Point of fact, I had gigabit back then, and I still do. I don't see that I'll have a reason to update that in the foreseeable future. Because of that, I suspect wireless technologies will mature at a faster rate than bandwidth needs will rise.

For the installation of the cable, I'm having a professional do it. Let them deal with the sweat and tears of pulling wire through walls from the patch panel to the wall jack. I won't have the time, and I know my limitations. Hooking up equipment to a patch panel can be done with my eyes closed compared with pulling wiring.

I do foresee using 10GB Intranet a few years down the road, but mainly between my main workstation and my FreeNAS box. I don't see 10GB Intranet being commonplace at the residential level for quite a while yet, and for most applications, 1GB Intranet is more than plenty of bandwidth.

Point of fact, processor speeds have somewhat plateaued. Until last year I was still rocking a core2duo, and rather happily at that.

I suspect the market has matured; we won't see the same level of growth in the next 20 years that we saw between 2000-2010. Point of fact, I had gigabit back then, and I still do. I don't see that I'll have a reason to update that in the foreseeable future. Because of that, I suspect wireless technologies will mature at a faster rate than bandwidth needs will rise.

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lol, I'm all too familiar with that as I'm using a socket 478 p4 right now. But there is a recent uptick now that people are investing in gaming again, and it's actually getting back to the normal cycle. The last few years were actually a bit weird for the entire scope of IT--processor speeds stayed the same, and even memory basically did. Drives didn't even really increase in speed, just size, and everything was in a bit of a holding pattern.

But this isn't the norm. There will be a return to the faster cycle in the next 6 months. Just look in the drop in prices of gpus in the last 6 months. And all the used gear on here that people will post in January after getting badly needed upgrades will fuel that even further to kick start the move in a big way. I personally like a low cycle as I can get gear on the tail end cheap and still be able to use it. With these faster cycles, you're lost in the dust if you don't upgrade.

I remember the 1990s and what we were working with back then, and things stayed pretty steady then too from the 286 all the way to the 486 and Pentium. But then as new capabilities like video and the Internet came along because of things like cable modems, suddenly you could think about doing new things--and here we are today. It will only take another few ideas to make the next wave happen, and it surely will come.

Wireless has always matured faster than the demand has been because no one 'needs' wireless. Everything is always run on wired if you need it to be reliable. Wireless is a convenience and when it doesn't work, it's never really the end of the world--at least on well-designed networks.

lol, I'm all too familiar with that as I'm using a socket 478 p4 right now. But there is a recent uptick now that people are investing in gaming again, and it's actually getting back to the normal cycle. The last few years were actually a bit weird for the entire scope of IT--processor speeds stayed the same, and even memory basically did. Drives didn't even really increase in speed, just size, and everything was in a bit of a holding pattern.

But this isn't the norm. There will be a return to the faster cycle in the next 6 months. Just look in the drop in prices of gpus in the last 6 months. And all the used gear on here that people will post in January after getting badly needed upgrades will fuel that even further to kick start the move in a big way. I personally like a low cycle as I can get gear on the tail end cheap and still be able to use it. With these faster cycles, you're lost in the dust if you don't upgrade.

I remember the 1990s and what we were working with back then, and things stayed pretty steady then too from the 286 all the way to the 486 and Pentium. But then as new capabilities like video and the Internet came along because of things like cable modems, suddenly you could think about doing new things--and here we are today. It will only take another few ideas to make the next wave happen, and it surely will come.

Wireless has always matured faster than the demand has been because no one 'needs' wireless. Everything is always run on wired if you need it to be reliable. Wireless is a convenience and when it doesn't work, it's never really the end of the world--at least on well-designed networks.

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Oh, I'm talking about home networks, given OP is talking about his home network. I just don't see everything ramping up to 2000 levels of improvement ever again; slow growth will be the norm going forward. Further, you'll have to remember that any developments that will make a splash in the home space will necessarily need to work within the confines of your standard home network; 1gig wired, wireless, otherwise it won't gain any traction.

For the installation of the cable, I'm having a professional do it. Let them deal with the sweat and tears of pulling wire through walls from the patch panel to the wall jack. I won't have the time, and I know my limitations. Hooking up equipment to a patch panel can be done with my eyes closed compared with pulling wiring.

I do foresee using 10GB Intranet a few years down the road, but mainly between my main workstation and my FreeNAS box. I don't see 10GB Intranet being commonplace at the residential level for quite a while yet, and for most applications, 1GB Intranet is more than plenty of bandwidth.

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I think that's a good idea except for the termination unless they really know what they're doing. Even today on various forums I still hear nightmares about cable installations ending up just like what we dealt with in the 1990s--and this is almost 30 years later--lazy and ignorant doesn't change so just watch for that.

If you even have an inkling that you'll be using 10g, I'd definitely at least run the wire. Forget the 6a terminations at this point and go with 5e. But then when you want, you can just re-terminate the 5e runs you want with 6a and you'll be on 10g with limited effort. 6a vs 5e difference in wiring cost will be chump change compared to the labor.

Oh, I'm talking about home networks, given OP is talking about his home network. I just don't see everything ramping up to 2000 levels of improvement ever again; slow growth will be the norm going forward. Further, you'll have to remember that any developments that will make a splash in the home space will necessarily need to work within the confines of your standard home network; 1gig wired, wireless, otherwise it won't gain any traction.

Business networking is an entirely different animal.

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I'm talking home too. Remember, we wired my parents home before cat5 was a standard and gigabit and wireless even existed. If we wouldn't have been forward thinking on the wire, we'd at best have 100Mbps thoughout this place. And this is when 100Mbps was more than anyone would need.

I don't know what developments will come (if I did I'd be set to be a billionaire), but I know they will come. And my personal opinion is that there's no reason not to spend an extra 10% on overall project costs to ensure that you've got more than a fair chance at being ready.

I'm talking home too. Remember, we wired my parents home before cat5 was a standard and gigabit and wireless even existed. If we wouldn't have been forward thinking on the wire, we'd at best have 100Mbps thoughout this place. And this is when 100Mbps was more than anyone would need.

I don't know what developments will come (if I did I'd be set to be a billionaire), but I know they will come. And my personal opinion is that there's no reason not to spend an extra 10% on overall project costs to ensure that you've got more than a fair chance at being ready.

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I'd tend to agree that if the premium on future planning is 10%, or a real difference of less than 100 bucks, then it's probably fine.

I'm just arguing against the notion that you get the best you can possibly get; that'd be significantly more, both in materials and labor ( think: fiber ).

I ran cat5e in the house I bought ten years ago, but > 1G equipment is starting to get affordable now; also that house had an unfinished basement and no fireblocking, so wiring rooms was literally shove cable up from the bottom, and reach in the wall to grab it. Saving a couple bucks on the wires made sense then, because I wasn't going to spend thousands on 10G nics and if I did, it would take 5 minutes to redo a run with better cable. I also managed to repurpose a cat3 run for phones to connect ethernet to the detached garage, and that ran ok at 1G for me, so YMMV; but I would definitely run at least cat6 today, and maybe 6a if it's not too much more. I like the idea of terminating the ends with cat5, and redo termination later if you need to.

Netflix recommends 25Mbits/sec per 4K video stream. 8K is four 4K pixels worth of data. So assume 8K will be a little more expensive(move to even higher bit rate/color, need 8k(13 bits) distinct colors to get little banding across screen) at 6 times 4K and that's 150Mbits/sec per stream.

Gigabit will be just fine for next 15 years. If you want to do daily PC backups to your NAS, well that's not in the cards right now.